Battles and Sieges of the
Great Northern War

When the Great Northern War started in 1700 Sweden was the dominant military power in north-eastern Europe, controlling most provinces along the shores of the Baltic Sea. But it was a country with very limited resources and incapable of defending its position if attacked by several countries at once. Sweden's neighbours knew that and Denmark-Norway, Saxony and Russia secretly formed a coalition and launched a surprise attack on three fronts. At a later stage they were joined by Prussia and Hanover. But despite the coalition members' optimistic expectations of quick gains, the Swedish army led by Charles XII proved to be a formidable foe. This war that eventually led to the end of Sweden's age of greatness also contained its greatest moments. Almost always fighting against numerically superior armies (usually at least two times greater) Sweden managed to win a series of great battlefield victories at Narva, Düna, Kliszow, Fraustadt, Holowczyn, Helsingborg and Gadebusch. But Sweden also suffered its most catastrophic defeat ever at Poltava and the list of fortresses falling to the enemies during the latter half of the war is very long. The growing power of Russia proved too much and in the end it replaced Sweden as the dominant power in the Baltic Sea region.

The following list of battles and sieges is a selection of the most important events of the Great Northern War. All dates are according to the contemporary Swedish calendar which differs from the Julian calendar (Old Style) by one day until 1712 and from the Gregorian calendar (New Style) with ten days until 1712 when the difference increased to eleven days. This means that the battle of Narva is shown to have happened on 20 November, even though the Gregorian calendar which we use today date it to 30 November and the Russians who used the Julian calendar at the time date the battle to 19 November.

= Denmark, = Hanover, = Prussia, = Russia, = Saxony

	Date (Swedish calendar)	Name	Swedish Commander	Opponent	Theatre of War
1700	25 July	Humlebæk	Charles XII		Denmark
	20 November	Narva	Charles XII		Baltic provincies
1701	9 July	Düna	Charles XII		Baltic provincies
	5 September	Rauge	W. A. Schlippenbach		Baltic provincies
	30 December	Erastfer	W. A. Schlippenbach		Baltic provincies
1702	9 July	Kliszow	Charles XII		Poland
	19 July	Hummelshof	W. A. Schlippenbach		Baltic provincies
	13 October	Nöteborg	G. V. Schlippenbach		Baltic provincies
1703	19 March	Saladen	Lewenhaupt		Baltic provincies
	21 April	Pultusk	Charles XII		Poland
	2 May	Nyenskans	Apolloff		Baltic provincies
	9 July	Systerbäck	Cronhjort		Finland
	15 May-4 October	Thorn	Charles XII		Poland
1704
	16 June	Wesenberg	W. A. Schlippenbach		Baltic provincies
	4 June-13 July	Dorpat	Skytte		Baltic provincies
	26 July	Jakobstadt	Lewenhaupt		Baltic provincies
	27 June-9 August	Narva	Horn		Baltic provincies
	9 August	Posen	Meijerfeldt		Poland
	28 October	Punitz	Charles XII		Poland
1705	16 July	Gemäuerthof	Lewenhaupt		Baltic provincies
	21 July	Warszawa	Nieroth		Poland
1706	15 January	Grodno	Charles XII		Belarus
	3 February	Fraustadt	Rehnsköld		Poland
	19 October	Kalisz	Mardefelt		Poland
1708	4 July	Holowczyn	Charles XII		Belarus Belarus Belarus
	31 August	Malatitze	Roos
	10 September	Rajovka	Charles XII
	29 September	Ljesna	Lewenhaupt		Belarus
1709	7 January	Veprik	Charles XII		Ukraine
	28 June	Poltava	Rehnsköld		Ukraine
1710	28 February	Helsingborg	Stenbock		Sweden
	13 June	Viborg	Stiernstråle		Finland
	1 February-11 July	Riga	Stromberg		Baltic provincies
	12 August	Pernau	Schwengeln		Baltic provincies
	9 September	Kexholm	Stiernschantz		Finland
	24-27 September	Köge bukt	Wachtmeister		Denmark
	29 September	Reval			Baltic provincies
1711	10 July	Prut	-		Moldavia
	4 December	Wismar	Schoultz		Germany
1712	August	Stade	Stackelberg		Germany
	9 December	Gadebusch	Stenbock		Germany
1713	5 May	Tönningen	Stenbock		Denmark
	6 October	Pälkäne	Armfelt		Finland
1714	19 February	Storkyro	Armfelt		Finland
	27 July	Hangöudd	Wattrang		Finland
	29 July	Nyslott	Busch		Finland
1715	13 April	Femer bält	Wachtmeister		Germany
	28 July	Rügen	Sparre		Germany
	5 November	Stresow	Charles XII		Germany
	22 December	Stralsund	Charles XII		Germany
1716	24 February	Kajaneborg			Finland
	8 April	Wismar			Germany
	8 July	Dynekilen	Strömstierna		Sweden
1717	8 July	Strömstad	Giertta		Sweden
1719	15 July	Marstrand			Sweden
	13 August	Stäket	Dahlheim/Fuchs		Sweden
1720	27 July	Ledsund	Siöblad		Finland